Now available: the first two videos in the workshop series!

I’m pleased to announce the first two videos in the workshop series are now available for purchase! They join the existing trilogy of Photoshop processing videos – Introductory workflow, Intermediate workflow and workflow for the Leica M Monochrom. For those of you who can’t attend a workshop because of location, logistics or cost, or would like to cover one at your own pace, here’s your chance to get the next best thing. Click through for the details.

Ming Thein on Photography: The Fundamentals – US$63

Runtime 125min. Shot in the studio in Kuala Lumpur.

The Fundamentals begins with a journey through the history of photography, detours through the fundamentals of what every photographer should know and why, and ends up discussing my personal philosophy on photography. We talk through multiple examples of images and explain why they work (or don’t); technology; how to extract the most from your cameras; aesthetics; and of course what makes an outstanding image, and why. It is, essentially, the core knowledge you need as a photographer (beyond how to operate your camera). This video also includes a PDF download with live links referenced to appropriate articles on this site.

Making Outstanding Images: Episode One – US$63

Runtime 80min. Shot on location in Singapore.

Episode One covers the first session of the workshops; learn about the importance of good light, how to identify it, the importance of metering and understanding exposure from both a compositional and technical standpoint, and more importantly, how to use good light in your compositions. We then go on to deal with the five methods of subject isolation, the importance of perspectives and when to use what to strengthen an image, and finish off with identifying and using natural frames.

Finally, as a special introductory package for the month of August 2013 only – until 31 August, to be precise, I’m offering both videos for $100!

UPDATE: It’s now 1 September everywhere, so the offer has now ended. Thank you for the fantastic level of support!

Making Outstanding Images: Episode Four – exploring and deconstructing style; exercises in replicating several common styles to develop your own from

Making Outstanding Images: Episode Five – postprocessing for style

Together with the first two videos – Fundamentals and Episode One – these six video will comprehensively cover the same syllabus as days 1-3 of the Making Outstanding Images workshop series. Of course, you don’t have the benefit of live critique and feedback, but then again it is also more affordable – and you can work at your own pace. In addition to these core topics, I’m planning to develop the series further to offer other topics that have limited live workshop audiences for in any given location, including:

Learning to see: a walk around with MT

The Compact Camera Masterclass

Street photography

Editing and assessing images

Speedlights and lighting

Travel photography

Wildlife photography

Film processing and scanning

I was planning to finish producing Episodes 2-5 next, but however if you have any preferences on which video you’d like to see next, please leave a note in the comments. MT

Visit the Teaching Store to up your photographic game – including workshop and Photoshop Workflow videos and the customized Email School of Photography; or go mobile with the Photography Compendium for iPad. You can also get your gear from B&H and Amazon. Prices are the same as normal, however a small portion of your purchase value is referred back to me. Thanks!

Comments

i am having a great problem downloading the “Making Outstanding Images” episode from my account. I tried 2 times and, after the download is complete the archive appears as broken. Is it only me or something is wrong?

I think you should come up with different ways to advertise your wares. For serveral weeks now I thought your blog was dead as a dodo. All I ever got was the “Now available: the first two …” blurb. Nothing against the blurb or your advertising–a man’s gotta live–but it’s not so clever to have this in the form of a blog post that stays on top for weeks.

And that’s also why I’m unlikely to be able to ever sign up for your ‘live’ workshops, intriguing they are, because that would mean having to hire a sign language intrepreter too.. which would make it too costly overall. The videos are the only way I can take part in your workshops.

Ming, I left you a message earlier but haven’t seen response yet. I bought the photoshop workflow DVD on Sunday night through paypal but haven’t received the link to download it. Can you please advise what I should do? thanks

I replied your original message on the other thread about an hour after you left it, and resent the links twice immediately afterwards. Please also check your spam filter as sometimes they get stuck in there…

Hi Ming,
Would it be possible to pay for the bundle upfront? (all 6 episodes). Im happy to pay now and watch later. If you have a price in mind and its not an administrative nightmare for you id be interested. Id like to watch the first 2 now but as im ultimately going to purchase all 6 I may as well enquire…

Hi Ming,
It may be posted somewhere in the comments but would it be possible to pay for the whole package (6 episodes) up front so that I can start watching them now. Id love to pay for the bundle and if you have a price in mind ill happily pay now and watch later 🙂
Of course this may be hard to administrate and if not possible I understand.

Ming, your videos on the workshop are excellent by any standard! I went through #1 almost non stop. #2 I’m watching as classes: I watched until you go out and do the exercise on light yourself, and stopped until I can go out and do it myself; than I’ll continue to watch until the next exercise. Question: when you were evaluating the light, you used what seemed to be a point and shoot camera as photometer (the GR IV?), to double check your guess – what is the advantage of using another camera, instead of using the DSLR’s measurement?
Mixing with other subjects:
– my unforgettable camera was a Nikon EF2, which was stolen from me in a park in Oklahoma (I was with my wife and kids, and paying attention to the kids, I forgot it for two minutes in a bench and voilá! Disappeared. I can still remember the solid weight and the nice clicks of it’s buttons… I have now an OMD, I hope I’ll like it half as I liked the EF2 (it also seems to feel good in my hands).
– after reading your article on the Olympus Mju, I went through the boxes where I keep my old stuff, and found one Mju I have given to my daughter, years ago. The battery still has energy, so I put a roll of film and took some pictures. I have to find now where I can develop it and see how they come out!
Back on the videos: they are great value for the money, and I guess you have spent a lot of time putting them together and shooting. Many thanks!

Thanks, Ming. About the FE2: I have been thinking in getting another, even if just for the sake of owning one again. I still have the golden box – and this after having moved internationally several times, and losing many other items, but the box is still there, to remind me of my old friend. Definitely, I’ll start looking for another FE2!

Just purchased and watched both videos yesterday, I have to say I’m very satisfied with the contents.
Ming, I have some suggestions for you:
– In the Episode 1 video, I can see you make some pictures of an object using different focal lengths, but in the end you show only one picture. What if you show several pictures, and then explain the reasons why you consider one of them to be the best ?
– I really hope there is a “questions and answers” session, and I believe a lot of people want it too. Is it possible for you to create a webpage, accessible only by the people who purchased the videos. In the webpage, those people can post some questions; You or maybe someone else can join the discussion. So, it’s like your e-mail school, but with a lot of participants instead of one.

1. Noted – post-shot evaluation is something we can add to the next videos; the entire process of editing is so automated for me that I do it without even thinking about it.
2. Possible, but the back end will require some work. I’ve got several ideas on how to merge the email school and the video series into something a bit more communal and interactive; just trying to figure out what the best way of doing it is – both from an education impact standpoint and a technical one.

Just purchased the bundle, $100 is not cheap (I live in Indonesia, apa kabar Ming!) but considering the amount of knowledge and resource you’ve put in this blog, I guess it justify the purchase. Still I have hard time deciding between this bundle and the video A, but you gave a hint on the upcoming postprocess so I’ll put on hold on vid A and buy this on priority *and besides there are already numerous post processing tutorial*, but I might give it a go too if I can make several freelance project within short time.

And I agree with others, while chances for me are very small in attending your workshop, I hope you compensate the bundle purchase for existing customer.

Just purchased the package… honestly Ming, I visit your site every day, and very much admire the quality of content you put up here. Happy to help support your career… you’ve found your personal quest! (cf: The Alchemist). Best to you – can’t wait to watch the videos.

On a side note – I don’t know if this is covered in the videos at some point – but what I would LOVE to see is a walkthrough of you approaching a particular shot – and capturing some before/after comments on what you’re thinking about as you shoot – how you selected the framing, what camera settings you used and why to make sure exposure was what you wanted, etc.. Some of this is instinctual, I know – and relies on knowing your equipment and the technical side so that you don’t miss a shot while fiddling with camera settings – and likewise with the ‘feel’ of framing or grabbing a candid street shot… but in general, what do you think about (consciously and perhaps subconsciously) as you shoot/prepare to shoot? And in a truly perfect world, this would be the case for both a full macro set-up, a landscape/cityscape (with more intentional set-up) and maybe a walkaround street example. Would love to get inside of your head. Anyway – just my thought… basically, see if you can put a camera and mic set-up inside your brain. Easy, right!?

Chris has a mind that reels out video storyboards, complete and intact. Add my vote for this one. Great potential for improvised narration and really satisfying post production involving B-roll and stills.

Agreed on Chris’s suggestion. For me, seeing the walkaround as you considered the subject was the most enjoyable part of the video and uniquely informative as well. Think of it as a live action Magnum Contact Sheets! 🙂

Thank you for the reset on my attempts. I attempted downloading this morning but with the same results. One file downloaded 362 MB and the other was about 18 MB before the network was lost. I have downloaded your other videos (Intermediate PS for Photographers) successfully in the past, so I am unsure what the problems might be. I will try again late tonight as you suggested.

Ming,
I received 2 separate emails to download files: Fundamentals of Photography and Making Outstanding Images, Episode One. I have attempted to download both files 3 times on different days on my iMac with no success. The message is “network connection lost”. The problem may be on my end but I am not sure. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you. Edward Michaels

It’s usually the ISP in that case, as we have a server network around the world. Try downloading overnight during lower bandwidth demand periods. I’ll get the tech side to reset your attempts in the meantime.

Well done with the videos , walk around with MT and street photography would be a great addiction. I recall you did a number of book reviews. besides Sebastiao Salgado are there any other photographers that have inspired you.

After being away for 4 weeks, what a nice surprise to come home to two new videos. 🙂 I just purchased and downloaded them both (paypal address is different from this one) but haven’t had the time to view them just yet. The question of why is important to me, and I hope it is answered. I mean, “why did you choose that?”, “why did you do that?”, “why is that so?” (Yeah, I’m a beginner looking to understand, and the why I struggle with.)
As for the video I’d like to see next, it has to be “Learning to see: a walk around with MT”, given that seeing is fundamental. If I can’t see it, I can’t capture it. It would be interesting if you could present various scenes, perhaps from different angles, that might or might not have an image in it according to you, and then later on showing what you selected as the image, and why. Or why not. 🙂
Anyway, off to bed here. Thanks for this, anticipating getting to watch them. 🙂

Thanks for your support – please let me know if you haven’t gotten your links yet, every order up to now has been filled. 🙂 Enjoy!

Noted on the feedback – I’ve been wanting to produce that ‘learning to see’ video for some time, but I’m trying to figure out how to frame it to show both context and the shot – it’s actually a little tricky from a technical point of view.

As for learning to see, I can appreciate the difficulty in making something like that, but I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Also, you like a challenge don’t you? 🙂
As for the rest of the videos, it seems I’m the minority in that I’d like episode 2-5 next, in that order. It seems like a logical build up, and it’s what would suit me best. But it’s all interesting, except perhaps for film and wildlife.

If by ‘like a challenge’ you mean have a masochistic streak, yes, that would seem to be the case…

Noted on the feeback. The whole beauty of having the workshop videos in chunks is that you only buy what interests you; I can’t do this practically in a real workshop, nor can I justify doing workshops with a small handful of people in various cities on say, wildlife.

No! That one had gone [it was an SQ-Ai with the speed grip and AE prism finder and a 100mm Zenzanon S]. I scoured the entire Japanese internet for days and days and days—no Sq-Ais ANYWHERE. Started to contemplate an Sq-A: none anywhere. Decided even Sq-Bs were OK—but none anywhere. Got back to the World day before yesterday: lunchtimes were spent roving the real shops in Shinjuku => only a 6×7 format GS-1 to be found…
[very nice camera though, that. Too big for me, but still]

I felt like the universe was against me.
[And after three weeks of hard grind with the kids, unfair or what]

And then, in a camera shop far, far away… (30 min on the train) A Zenza Bronica SQ appeared. Not the a, not the ai, not the b; the plain old 1980 SQ. Realistically, this is a camera almost as old as I am. At least I was a teenager when the Sq-Ai came out; when the original SQ hit the market, I was still in nappies. Some wedding photographer has probably run it ragged over those years. But we’re talking used cameras so this kind of thing goes with the territory; not a deal-breaker, to me. The main thing was that it wasn’t precisely what I was after, so there’s the danger of buying for buying’s sake [no one is immune!]. So I spent an evening to think about it. It was a smidgen more expensive than that SQ-Ai with the full kit [which was suspiciously cheap perhaps], and was just the 120 back, a 150mm Zenzanon S and waist level finder. But the biggest stickler for me was that the SQ didn’t/doesn’t have a mirror up feature. Going to have to live with that.

But what the hey. Those weeks away from the World, researching these cameras online, and their availability in stores here was time well spent. SQ-Ais just don’t come up that often [I think a lot of people are savvy to the “poor man’s Hasselblad”] so I figured get this SQ and enjoy it, learn it, while I wait for a decent Ai to come up, then I can p/x and pounce!

Really looking forward to 120! Got a box of Ektar 100, a box of Portra, and Iskabibble has name dropped Fuji 160 NS so much I couldn’t resist and got a box of that too. That added 100 USD onto the price, but the price was so cheap to begin with, it all comes out in the wash. And just to put this in perspective for the guys: I got a legendary medium format camera — body, back, lens, finder — 15 rolls of 120 film all for less than a Casio Exilim.

I honestly have no idea what the difference between the variants is – other than the Ai probably being the one you want?

Buying for buying’s sake is bad. I’ve learned that if you’ve got the slightest bit of doubt, walk away. If you don’t, you’ll inevitably have buyer’s remorse afterwards – directly in exponential proportion to the cost of the item.

Mirror up is critical for tripod use and long exposures, but if you’re shooting it handheld, that’s only going to interfere with your view – so no big loss, I think. How about skipping the Ai, and waiting for the right Hasselblad to come up instead? 😉

You’re missing something with your film: ACROS!

There’s really no way the new stuff can compare with vintage for value for money. NO way. How can a D7100 be equivalent in value to an F6? Or a D3200 and an F5? Or worse still – a Leica M 240 body and a Hasselblad 501CM, two lenses AND a 39MP digital back?!

Serious face on –> agreed on buying for buying’s sake. And AGREE with your little rule of thumb about regretting it: just going off how painful missing the SQ-Ai was, I would have definitely regretted letting this SQ go. And for 26,000 JPY: it’d be a such a stingy thing to do.

I’ve felt myself more and more drawn to simple portraits thesedays. Just what I want to do. My next saving is for a cable release [assuming I can find one] and the Polaroid back [already found one].

Agh! The Acros!! Ha. But honestly, b&w perhaps isn’t for me at the moment, I really had to motivate myself to get through a roll in Cromagnon. Perhaps Charles Bronson will be different? 🙂

Certainly looking forward to seeing the Acros roll back. I just handed it off to the place that develops my color stuff; being used to hearing “pick up in one hour” I was STUNNED when the guy went “OK, please come back on the 9th of July.”

— moment of stunned silence —

I went with it, I have no chemicals so no choice at the moment. But seriously? A week to do a roll of 35mm B&W? Wow. Especially when I know for a fact (being a reader of sites like this) that all he needs is a few tens of minutes. To be kind, let’s say an hour or two. Anyway. Definitely would like to start developing b&w myself, but with three young children in the house I need to have a serious think about when and where I could do it. Not impossible but perhaps not as straight forward as it is for everyone else [remembering I live in a cramped apartment in Tokyo, Japan, so don’t have tons of space at my disposal; and every square inch is communal].
On that topic: Ming, I definitely remember you mentioning your “recipe” [chemicals, develop times, etc] off hand in articles and in conversation down here below the line, but did we have an official article on it? [Eric, I need you here!] And I’m sure I remember you mentioned you were going to put something out in conjunction with the scanning rig –> coincidentally, I’d really really like to try a video above, but with only so much mula, the scanning rig’s what I’m waiting for [plus I’ll probably need to invest in something with a bit more resolution to use as the scanner. I could stitch from the D3, but that’d defeat the time saving aspect; or I could use the DP2M, but still may still need to stitch and I would have to deal with color issues — all color neg scans getting their tones Foveoned — so the Merrill isn’t my preference for this errand. Basically, any excuse to have more shiny things with buttons on them, etc 🙂 ]

Well hallelujah—it sounds like cable releases are not proprietary? I’d just assumed, this being the camera biz, you needed your camera maker’s cable release… hoping that isn’t the case. Will find out next week!

Oh, flash. That’s the other thing I need to get into next week. I’m lucky enough to own [on the company dime!] the Nikon SU-800 for triggering my flashes [from the D3]. I’m not sure if I can hook it up to the Bronica. Will play with it next week. But on your ‘Blad Ming, how do you approach flash work? [Like for example those 12 pristine watch shots you gifted us with a while back]. PC line from sync port to flash and others slaved optically? Or can we have it convenient and hook up a commander and do things centrally and wirelessly [IR in my case]?

Be interesting to hear what everyone does. A massive divergence from the post; so I hope I’m not putting my foot in it here 🙂
[not that it’s ever stopped me before!]

It takes about 20 minutes, but to make it worth his time, you can bet he’s not doing one roll at a time – he probably amasses a large batch and then runs one of the machines with B&W chemical. I presume you mean 9 August, July was some time ago…

You don’t need a lot of space. Just a shelf to put your tanks and chemical when not in use, and you can do the lot in daylight in the sink. I do, I don’t have space for a darkroom in my apartment either!

No article on film developing yet, there are lots films and lots of recipes and lots of variations, and everything is to taste. I also don’t have enough experience to make assertions with any degree of certainty. I will do the video on the digitization process – scanning, PS conversion – with the rig; I’ll have to shoot some color film first though to figure out the color correction steps.

Scanning 35 – the D3 is sufficient. You’re leaving something on the table with medium format though. Only the D800E really comes close, and even then I feel with Acros there’s some resolution left behind in a 6×6 scan.

Cable releases for mechanical cameras are standard threaded affairs that are perhaps ¥2000 at most.

SU800 sadly only works on Nikon CLS bodies. For the Blad, I used a PC sync cable to one SB900 in manual, with the others slaved optically in SU4 mode to the first one – also in manual. It’s a pain, but what can you do – short of buying radio triggers? (And even then few of those work with PC sync ports).

Yeah, just looking at some internetz chatter on su-800 & non-Nikon bodies, found a fair bit of opinion saying the same. Unlucky. Back to the PC cords [these things die on the regular, and how! I went through about four in seemingly as many weeks—but I used that result to justify work paying for a nice shiny su-800. Ha hah 😉 ]

Oh gosh, oh dear… Is a D800E on the far horizon? I kid, I’ve known it would be for a good while [with some mild consideration for the pixel density of the d7100; Todd also mentioned the color reproduction was awesome, so since I’m mostly on color negs and reversal (slide) I’m interested in that, but not really the d7100 itself]. I could probably use a D800E for other stuff; but a hell of an expense, even second hand, still. I saw this coming though, since I started considering film—so I know which cameras will have to go to support that. Will be a difficult decision; and on the other hand is the promise of glorious 6×6 negs, reproduced without the middle man = and a LOT of fun with Charlie Bronson 🙂

Roll on Monday! I’m dying to get going!!
[I left Bronson safe in the office as I had to attend a store opening reception Friday evening directly after work. No way I’m lugging it to that, plus the chance for accidents and, worst of all, the downside of haptics: PAWING!]

P/S just revisiting, and enjoying again, your watches and Hasselblad FD post—the blue skinned ‘blad (501c) was ridiculous! Ridiculously good I mean 🙂 and in hindsight good because it was transitory. Cropped up in that article there, actually, but I see what you mean about developing recipes… It’s like asking what’s the right PP choice—there are basics to be observed, but we’re into something more akin to cuisine than a rote production line. Taste matters.
Thanks for the tip on home developing! Pretty pleases going my wife’s way in the coming days 😉

Oh for sure. So that’s why I mention being able to use it for other stuff, that’d be criteria one; and selling off other gear to fund one, if I felt like doing it, that’d be criteria two. Global principle: I’m not spending another penny on bodies; there’re a ton of other purchase priorities for me—not all photographic!
So yeah, a d800E, just for scanning, for me? Bonkers! But in reality the only thing that stops me is my wife would seriously be angry about that. And she’d be right. I have a family to support. Cheapo medium format film, though, she can stomach 🙂

Yeah, I must admit—the black and chrome of the ‘blads isn’t my cup of tea (at this point in time). But the elegance of them is unarguable… I just wish they wouldn’t tarnish the brand with things like the Lunar and the Stellar. Really puts all the chrome finishing on the serious cameras in a completely different light if you’re not previously familiar or attached to the brand. If I ran the show over at Hassel, NO WAY those two products get the OK… It’s just what happens when you get Masters of the Universe buying up your company and calling shots: guys that have never worked on the ground floor, and most certainly in this case, have never taken pictures seriously.

1) What in the branding suggests moving outside of medF is smart?
2) What in the branding suggests moving outside of squares (or even 4:3) is smart?

Those are two easy reasons why what they’ve done with the Lunar and Stellar is bad bad bad. It was probably just some opportunistic OEM deal, tying in Zeiss, that had margins so massive it seemed mad *not to* from the sales dept’s perspective. But those guys usually can’t think much past a few future months and their own commissions. Dangerous men to give too much power to.
Just have a go at doing something useful AND MEANINGFUL like a more modern, better functioning digital back for the cameras and lenses that actually made the brand in the first place? Realistically, this would demand a whole new range of lenses too. Expensive proposition: but business is spending a dollat to make two. If a company is scared to spend, they’re headed for hinterland…
Or even better, no new products at all: already got great stuff, just support and maintain it. That’s not the rapid growth model that any money man wants to hear, but its a more modern stance, I think.

Whichever way they do it, Hassel still may end up like Bronica did. A discontinued line of cameras and lenses; a Zombie brand—eventually bought by a Japanese giant, if they’re lucky. Preserved but dead.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this, Ming, when the “end of dslr” article drops.
[assume you’re concentrating on smaller format there, but all these cameras are slrs, so the same principles should hold?]

Easy answer to those two:
1) Need money, medF is a small market
2) Need money, most people can’t deal with squares – though I suppose hipstagramflex changes that.

I’m told there is some method in the madness. Sony sensor tech/ photosite architecture may be going into the next gen medF digitals which will result in a serious jump in capabilities – imagine the performance of a sensor with an advanced version of the D800E’s photosite architecture, but three times the size.

I’m concentrating on smaller formats for the article. The larger formats will still have demand so long as there are no other options: that’s the crux of it. We have so many other options for smaller sensors. MedF digital is still MedF digital, everybody is using 2005 CCD tech…and mostly from the same manufacturers.

Well, there’s no running away from the cold reality of bottom line. I agree money’s what they need; I can’t think of a worse way to try and make it. But let’s see how they do… I bet you the Lunar and Stellar a) don’t make any money, b) degrade the brand => actively lose Hassel money in the longer run. Mine’s the safe bet, I think. But it’ll be interesting to see if your sources turn out to be right and there is some method in it.

Interesting tech news on the Sony architecture. Nikon shifting over to, or hedging more heavily with Toshiba in the future, perhaps?

Be sad to see the CCDs go in a way. MedF was the last bastion; but I hope things do move on –> in a year or two, people like me can pounce on all the used CCD backs that pros don’t use anymore [because of ever increasing res demands of clients] or amateurs wouldn’t like [the GAS gets to us all].

My pet idea is a 6×6 Foveon sensor. That would be mana from heaven to me. But talk about loss makers—I’m sure that’d sink whoever tried it 😮

I’m all for the 6×6 foveon too. Better yet, a 6×6 with D809E architecture and binned 4:1 for RGB/Luminance…great high ISO and the ability to really do handheld work with the ‘Blad with high shutter speeds…

Early backs are cheap now – I’ve seen them as low as 2k USD for 16MP versions – so we’re getting there…though remember DSLR tech moves much faster than MedF tech because of the size of the market and corresponding R&D budgets. You might not be getting quite what you expect.

Hi Tom, if you can find the time and space for it, you should really process your own B&W. It’s actually sort of fun, and lots faster than waiting for a lab. And over time, you can figure out how to evolve your development process to suit your needs.

Perhaps the most difficult thing (for me, at least) was loading the film onto a reel in the dark: you got to find a dark spot in your home, and then you’ve got to learn how to do the loading in the dark. But practice on a sacrificial roll, and use a plastic Patterson-style reel (the Samigon/Arista/whatever copies of the Patterson are said to be even easier to load), and you can get it with an hour of practice. 120 is also easier to load than 135. A friend is happy with a dark tent, and people seem to be happy with dark bags. I use an interior bathroom that happens to black out completely late at night if all the lights in the house are off. Once the film is in the development tank (AKA daylight tank), you can leave it there for days or weeks since it’s light tight.

The chemicals are not that bad, too, and you can process them at any time of the day after you’ve loaded your film into a daylight tank (Arista or Patterson here in the US is what I use). Certainly you don’t want to drink any of it, and fixer can be nasty stuff after a while, so you’ll need to find a way to secure that from your little ones’ hands. Get the iOS app Massive Dev Chart if you want a fairly automated timing with recipes for lots of different films and developers, or just look on their website and time it manually.

But just start somewhere, and you can thoughtfully evolve to where you need it to be. I use Rodinal because the first YouTube video I watched used it with Acros. I found that video useful for many reasons, so here it is (series of 5 or 6): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeejpwBwrkY I like the guy’s very practical, non-dogmatic approach, too.

I’ve just started stand development for experimenting with pushing Acros to 400 (not bad, I’m waffling on whether I’d do it again), and that may be great for a busy parent: mix up a very dilute development solution (1:100 Rodinal for me), agitate initially for a little bit, and let it sit for 30 minutes, agitate again, and wait another 30 minutes. You can wait even longer if you want. No fussing with temperatures, and precise timing and agitating every minute with regular development.

A ton of great stuff there. How can I not try this now? 🙂
Hopefully by the time MT makes it out here, I’ll be able to drop some film developer schtick on him—at least join in or hold a conversation on the topic 😀
[though holding a conversation has never been a problem for a motor mouth like me!]

Oh, Charles Bronson is going to be great. I have to get a grip on the right-is-left, left-is-right stuff… Just looking down instead of across at my target is a novel and uncomfortable feeling. Uncomfortable is good, though. That’s where new stuff comes from.
[certainly the case with copywriting, at any rate]

Did we get to the bottom of that suspected light leak, Andre? But I trust you’re having a blast too 🙂 Keep us in the loop and keep the tips coming; rest assured I’m taking all mine to the grave with me. I joke, of course! What do I know… but if that ever changes, below the line at blog.mingthein.com is where I’ll divulge it!

The best part of developing your own film is when you open the tank, and see the images on the negative. It’s like magic!

Yes, I believe my Hasselblad’s film back was leaking light from the dark slide seal, which is such a common failure that a guy on eBay sells a kit to fix it. It turns out the seal was completely missing when I took mine apart to fix it. It’s all back together now, and I have a roll in it to test it out. Fingers crossed …

I’ve been told that it doesn’t take very long to get used to a waist-level finder’s reversed view, FWIW.

Back on topic, I did what I will now call the “Ming” yesterday. A friend recently loaned me his Ricoh GR1, complete with belt case, and I went out walking with the GR1 on the hip, and a 500C/M with a prism finder and 80/2.8 on a sling strap. In his 2nd video, Ming walks around with his D800E on a shoulder strap, a Billingham (?) bag, and his GR on a belt case. Depending on what perspective he wanted, he’d shoot with one or the other. But it was distressing to see how practical that setup was, as he could use either camera very quickly, and that made wearing a belt case now acceptable. I can also see why he likes the GR so much, based on how easily he appeared to use it.

So of course, I had to try it out. Besides the weight of the 500 (springy straps only save your shoulders from the gravity of Victor’s black brick for only so long), this setup works remarkably well for me, too. But off to the outdoors before the sun sets, and only with the Hasselblad today!

Oh dear. Looks like I’ve committed a photographic faux pas with the belt case haha! At least it’s the nice fitted leather case that’s designed for the GR. I like it because it’s really a quick-draw holster with magnetic latches, rather than something with zips to fumble with or the dust of a pocket…

I would normally go with the camera around my neck, spares in a jacket pocket (lenses, if OM-D, film if ‘Blad); the bag – yes, a Billingham Hadley Digital – only comes along if it’s too hot for a jacket or I need to carry more stuff (larger lenses, for instance, ipad to show examples if I’m teaching), and yes, a smaller camera in a holster.

I’ve actually stopped using a neckstrap with the ‘Blad – mainly because I haven’t found the right one yet, I think. I just have to remember not to let go of it when I need both hands!

1. Loading 135 onto Patterson reels is actually not that hard: did it the first time in the dark with no practice roll. It might actually be easier than 120.
2. But since competence is conserved, don’t wear a watch with glowing numerals into your darkroom! Fortunately, I noticed it just as I started pulling the 135 spool out of its can, and only suffered a couple of spots on the top edge of the sprockets on the first few frames.
3. 135 frames are so small and cute! And long. Holy cow, 36 exposures makes for a long thing to hang up.
4. Half-pressing your 500C/M’s shutter button does not activate its exposure meter or autofocus. Instead it activates its “accidentally expose and waste a frame” feature. Grr, stupid DSLR habits.
5. Never ever stand develop film shot at box rating: most things turn out overexposed. (For the dilution and time I used.)

BTW Ming, I’ve seen people claim that they’ve developed 2 rolls of 120 on one reel, as it turns out that there is enough space to spool 2 of them on there. After loading the first, gently grab the film and rotate it along the same direction until it reaches the center, and then load the 2nd roll onto the reel. I haven’t been brave enough to try it yet.

Since starting, I’ve never been that into neck straps. I have almost everything on wrist straps; or no straps and barehanded carry. Either, or. The only cameras I had on a neck strap were: the D7000 [gone for glass]; the F2 [“Cromagnon”]. Cromagnon is literally a wrecking ball if you put it straight around your neck and let the centrifugal force do what it does. Seriously dangerous to bend over without using an arm to dampen Cromagnon’s swing [which defeats the “hands free” purpose of a neck strap]. Just slinging it over a shoulder while you walk also ends up being an SAS exercise in pain management—recall that scene in Rocky where he batters the ribs of a skinned side of heifer, now put a set of knuckle dusters on him: that’s what shouldering and walking Cromagnon is like. I’ve basically given up on the neck strap, but the Cro’s too heavy and wouldn’t suit a wrist strap. So I’m going to try a week of manly bare hand carry and see how we go.

I’ve hand carried my D3 since day one, and won’t have it any other way. Completely strapless. This is a man’s camera! That camera is my sidekick. When I take it, I take it everywhere. I even sit it down next to me as I work. I don’t think anything I’ve ever saved for and bought in my life has meant as much to me as this camera [or costed me as much]. I don’t find it too heavy either. I mean it is a heavy camera; I just don’t find it a problem. Quite like it actually. I think I’m on a real “heavy is good! kick at the moment. I do make sure, though, when it’s D3 day, it’s a day where I don’t need my hands. In fact, now I mention that, I guess my gestalt is “every bit of everything I’ll need, phones, wallets, pens, paper, books, bumpf, etc., etc., gets squared away and goes in a bag—I want both hands totally free for holding my camera [and no straps].” So rather than stowing my camera away to have hands free. I stow luggage away, to have hands full, of camera. I guess when I go out to shoot, I’m going to shoot—I don’t think about convenience that much. I may change.

I don’t intend to strap up the Zenza Bronica SQ [Charles Bronson] either. I’m handholding it; but the used store where I found it, wrapped it in bubble wrap and put it in a thick brown paper bag with handles for me [of course no boxes or anything for something of this vintage, at that price]. On the carry back, I thought: actually, this might be a good way to transport Bronson when I’m out and about, bubble wrap and a small carrier bag. It’s not very fashionable or “photographer like,” perhaps, but definitely works. Run for the hills if it rains I guess.

But oh, come on, fast draw belt holsters? LAPPING THAT UP. I notice a lot of our forces now holster their small arms flush on the chest; it looks quite a convenient way to draw a pistol—might work for a small fixed lens camera like the GR or the A. Though, actually, they don’t have much of a handle to grab for in a movement like that. Maybe one of those “ARE YOU…? WHO ARE YOU TALKIN’ TO!?” ejector wrist holsters like DeNiro had in TAXI DRIVER. Imagine that. Guy mulling about in a scene, baggy military jacket on, with one slightly lumpy sleeve, the decisive moment materializes, guy suddenly jerks a wrist and a GR shoots out the sleeve and blam! Another one for the folio, etc.

It’s funny, I happened upon MT’s blog researching DRFs in February, or so, but the very first blog.mingthein.com photo I saw was Ming, seen from the neck down, with a ‘blad on a shoulder strap. Can’t find the post again now… I don’t think it was a review. Needless to say, the classic “me in the mirror” shot even looked classy when MT did it.
[why do we all go for those?]

Neck straps are for the times you need both hands free, like when juggling a lens change. It’s handy to have one hand to put the old lens back and one to handle the new one, which leaves you with precisely none left for the body. Other than that, I just wind the strap around my wrist most of the time. More flexible and stealthier.

Plastic carrier bags are waterproof…very much so. I usually have a ziploc handy if it looks like rain – especially important in the tropics, where rain isn’t so much droplets as a solid cubic mass of falling water!

I’d skip the dark spot – may not be dark enough for very fast films – get a changing bag/ tent instead, and use wherever is convenient. I use a Patterson too, but the reels aren’t the easiest to load; I’ve seen other better designs that have better shrouding to prevent the film from kinking and causing moons on loading.

Happy to share my recipes if anybody is interested; still trying to figure out how to stand develop in DDX…nobody seems to have a recipe for that.

I’ve heard two things to keep the Pattersons working well: make sure they are totally dry, and run a scrap piece of film through it to loosen up the ball bearings right before loading your film. I just use a film leader about 2 inches long that I saved, and doing these two things seem to work OK for me. But that’s for 120 … 135 for the first time tonight.

Yes, the wider ramps make a huge difference. If I could get them here without silly shipping, I would. That said, I’m also considering a pair of larger tanks (3-reel 120) for faster bulk processing. The only problem is that they’d use 3x the chemical, of course.

Completely drying the Pattersons is an absolute must. I use a tissue to move the ball bearings to ensure that every last bit of moisture is out and that they run freely; so far so good.

I stayed up entirely too late last night watching (and rewatching) both videos. Then I fell asleep on my laptop (out of sheer exhaustion–nothing more!) whilst reading your articles, and in many cases, rereading articles I’d already read in the past but that suddenly made so much more sense after watching the videos. I learned a LOT. I’m so happy you’re doing this! It is exactly what I was I was looking for to learn how to capture better images! I’ve been frustrated by the fact most courses/videos/books either assume you know absolutely nothing at all and merely regurgitate the exposure triangle and rule of thirds, or they assume you’ve got a PhD in math and physics. Anxiously awaiting the next videos… I’m not willing to wait for the bundle deal pricing and will be ordering them as you release them–they are absolutely worth the cost. That said, I’m curious about the possible discount you mentioned for the email school? Once I’ve made it through the video series and practiced, I’d like to take it before wasting your time in school now! 🙂

Sorry, that was my fault – I’ve filled all orders up to right now, but I just checked and it appears I missed a character in your email address. Just resent the links to you, please let me know if you still haven’t received them.

I used Archive Utility to open them, and received the following alert (same for both files):

So I tried “unzip” in Terminal, and received the following response (same for both files):

Archive: ming-thein-on-photography-the-fundamentals-mingthein.com.zip End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on the last disk(s) of this archive. unzip: cannot find zipfile directory in one of ming-thein-on-photography-the-fundamentals-mingthein.com.zip or ming-thein-on-photography-the-fundamentals-mingthein.com.zip.zip, and cannot find ming-thein-on-photography-the-fundamentals-mingthein.com.zip.ZIP, period.

Looks good. I was wondering will there be some 5 min. sample or similar available (not trailer, a cut from an actual lecture)? It’s kind of hard to determine how much new and useful stuff there will be for me in a lecture. I’ll still considering popping $60 to check a lecture out even if there’s no sample, but there’s a long list of things to spend time and money on and a little sales pitch would help here… 😉

I agree with Oskar, a 5 min trailer from each video will help me to justify the purchase. No, I am not saying the videos are expensive or not worth it, but there are hundreds of way to explain a subject and not all of them suit my style… That being said, I’m considering to purchase both of the videos. Is there a possibility that – in the near future – you might sell all of the videos together with a special price ? 😀

Trailer is in the works when I have the time to re-cut. And yes, once the series is complete – at least for the basic set – there will be a package price, along with a complete series price. We’ll also do intro pricing for each video as it’s launched, similar to how we’re running the two for $100 offer for August…

Love to see if you can do a video session on product photography, how to properly light a subject, aperture, use of flash/no flash. Love to see your technique to get those awesome watch or camera shots that you’ve taken. I’m not into taking watch photos but love to take awesome shots of my figures at home (which I got lots) 🙂

You’ll need to do it on a computer because of the compression we used to keep the files manageable, I’m afraid. The videos also have attached PDFs with links referencing relevant articles/ further reading.

I believe they’re 720p MP4 for the final download – I will check with the production team. I only have the master super-low compression 1080p version here – it’s about 5GB and completely impractical for download…

Tried to buy but paypal would not let me. For “security” reasons they had to call me on the phone. However, their web site only allows you to input a US phone number while I live in China. Stupid paypal, stupid.

Hi Ming.
Thanks a lot for all the things i found on your Blog. Just payed for Episode 2 and can’t wait to get it for tomorrows train from Germany to London with the RX100M2 in my pocket!
Voting for the PS workflow as the next episode too!

Hi Bob, I got a notification from Paypal that you sent an echeque that takes five days to clear…I generally wait for payment first, but I’ll make an exception this time – download links are on the way now.

Thanks Ming–I didn’t realize it would take that long through PayPal. Next purchase I make with be with CC to make it easier. One of these days I gotta get you to come to LA to do a workshop. Dinner on me–I promise.

I’ve bought Episode 1 and just watched it. For one of your first videos it is great ! Well done Ming !
I’ve found your explanations very clear. I am not a total beginner so I knew already most of fundamentals (by observing and practicing myself, with experience) but you made these concepts clearer and more precise in my mind so I guess I am now willing to use these concepts on a more regular and thought basis when I shoot 🙂

Can’t wait other episodes !

Just one question: How long can I use my login/password to download the video I bought ? Do I have better keep it safe somewhere or can I expect to still have access to it in 1 or 2 years directly from your server ?

I’ve trawled through every last one of your flickr images a while ago (not a stalker)- and I’m always very impressed with your work.
I’ll be getting these! Looking forward to the Street and Travel photography components.
Keep up the great work and offerings and try not to burn yourself out!

Educational price would be mostly welcomed… 100$, despite the top quality of the lectures (i am sure about that) makes it impossible for some of us to follow your e-ducation even that way. However if you won’t offer any discount coupon or something, i hope i ll earn money soon in order to get these lectures.

Nobody talked about “free” content. Most of the businesses IMHO around the world (and lot of bigger businesses that yours) respect students with special prices, in order to promote knowledge. Anyhow, it is your BUSINESS and you can do whatever you find correct. I am very happy that i saw more clear some things now. Thanks for your reply. All the best

But everybody here is a student and learning, which is why I am teaching…I’ve already got over 650 articles and 1.3 million words of free content on this site; far more than you’ll find anywhere else, on topics which don’t appear anywhere else. Nobody has to pay for that, and it’s not even supported by advertising. Every hour I spend here is an hour I can’t bill a client for – and trust me, there are a lot of hours.

i don’t mean students here, but students of universities who try to pass a month with 300$ while having to pay for their university fees. Anyway, you are right. Here is a thesaurus of knowledge and truth is that you share lots of diamonds here Ming and we are all very grateful for all these!

Could you please spend 1 more minute in order to suggest in which order somebody new to photography should buy your stuff? Except from these 2 you published today, i saw in your site other lessons also offered though paypal so i go a little bit confused.

You’ll have to give me a bit more background on what level you’re coming in at; I wouldn’t want to suggest something too basic or too advanced. I’d suggest starting with the articles on making outstanding images, metering, autofocus, the 10×10 tips series, and the common mistakes series – then the fundamentals video, and intro to PS. That would cover the basics – you’d have to rewatch them a few times to extract all of the juice out of it, as some things only sink in with experience. But if you can put all of that into practice, you’ll be well on your way.

I am new to photography and i know only basic stuff. I have a rather good sense of aesthetics, and know basic terminology of photography and their applications. I would like to start as tabula rasa, from a real pro in order to get strong roots while growing. So i assume i will start with this order you mentioned so kindly.

Thanks for your time Eric posting all these. Surely, it will be of great help not only for me, but for hundreds of other students who are watching this site. Beginners in photography emerge every single hour, so a “program” to follow is of outmost importance for us, the new passionate ones. Most of all thank you for your sharing-caring-attitude.

Your welcome. I am so glad Ming wrote so many excellent articles. I have read over 500 of them. The ones in the above post I have read five or more times. Like Ming says some of it is knowledge and some is practice. The Ming Thein Reader group is a great flickr group to join and will push you to do better and better. If you have Photoshop then the Intro Processing Video (Not listed above) is key. I have watched it several times and then processed photos and watched it again. I am also excited for the above videos. They look to be ordered exactly in the order of importance from my perspective.

I’ve always been fascinated by your post processing. That’s a vote for episode 5 being out of order.
This feels to me like affordable tuition to the Ming Thein University, and it’s pretty exciting for many of us I know.

Have you guys seen Ming’s Intro to PS video, or the videos available on the iPad? There’s quite a bit of stuff about postprocessing there already, though I am intrigued by what Ming will say about PP “for style” in his upcoming video.

ming, nice intro. i will get both. i think the episode order is quite good already. so looking forward to episode 2. i am with erlingmm on the whole 6 episodes deal since people like me who didn’t attend your workshop would need all 6. well, at least i need all 6… but i don’t want to nickel and dime you… i know you put lots of effort into this. btw, what’s the name of background music in intro?

That’s good to know. Can you find a means to support the package price to people who buy all the pieces individually? Maybe inconvenient to administer but people expecting they will buy the whole package won’t feel a need to wait for the series to finish up before they start buying.

I’ll see what I can do. It IS a huge pain to administer, so what I typically do is give them a discount on something else in the future – e.g. workshop participants getting Email School for $500 instead of $900, or vice versa with 25% off…